Buc-ee’s eyes North Carolina expansion
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Buc-ee’s may finally be coming to North Carolina.
What’s happening: The popular Texas-based convenience store is eyeing a location in Mebane.
Details: The proposed Buc-ee’s would be located at 1447 Trollingwood Hawfield Road, about 120 miles northeast of Charlotte. It would include a 75,440-square-foot travel center and 120 fuel stations, per the site plan.
- The Mebane Buc-ee’s would rival the chain’s largest location, which opened in June in Sevierville, TN, with a 74,000-square-foot travel center and 120 fuel stations, as our news partners at WBTV reported.
- Plans for the Mebane project are under review, WRAL reported.
Why it matters: Buc-ee’s might as well be a tourist attraction instead of your standard roadside convince store. Does your trip even count if you didn’t get a picture with Buc-ee, their mascot? You’ll see Buc-ee wandering through the store the same way you would Mickey Mouse or Snoopy at a theme park.
Zoom out: The gas station chain has locations in seven states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The closest location to Charlotte is 104 miles away in Florence, S.C. (3390 North Williston Road), off I-95.
Of note: Wawa, another convince store chain with a loyal following, broke ground on its first North Carolina location in May. It’s expected to open later this year, as Axios’ Katie Peralta Soloff reported.
My thought bubble: My partner and I drove 12 hours from Arkansas to Charlotte last summer for a wedding. Neither of us had ever been to Buc-ee’s, but it was like stepping into Valhalla after days of nasty bathrooms and lackluster snacks. You could actually get food, heck, a real meal, at Buc-ee’s. “It turns a routine trip to a roadside convenience store into a visit to Willy Wonka’s factory,” Axios’ Adam Tamburin wrote.